tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584167718205869396.post3941165531171870454..comments2010-03-09T10:18:50.401-05:00Comments on Charge Shot!!!: The King of the World is Dead! Long Live the Queen...Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04423637938535120289noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584167718205869396.post-20731333421125805342010-03-09T10:18:50.394-05:002010-03-09T10:18:50.394-05:00Positing "The Hurt Locker" as a stare-in...Positing "The Hurt Locker" as a stare-into-the-middle-distance-and-brood war flick does it a serious disservice. Besides "Generation Kill," it's the only piece of film to seriously examine the psychic havoc wreaked by the Iraq war. We could start by asking: what war? James and his team simply go from bomb to bomb, suspecting but seldom finding bad guys, aiming their rifles as a best guess. The only real gunfight happens at long-distance, a sniper battle that unfolds with zen-like slowness. If this is a war movie, it's anything but typical. <br /><br />"The Hurt Locker" is exceptionally powerful in the here-and-now because we know these people - we went to school with them. We stand in line behind them. Time will tell exactly how much of its success has to do with timing, but I'm confident many will see "The Hurt Locker" as the first time since 2003 that they sat up and gave a fuck about the Iraq War.Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06720756792014161178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584167718205869396.post-12530074736751979932010-03-08T17:45:16.130-05:002010-03-08T17:45:16.130-05:00The robot was part of a music box who was just enc...The robot was part of a music box who was just encouraging the main character. ...And maybe also a subtle comment that the computers responsible for CGI in modern animated films are just really smart robots...<br /><br />And in terms of "Hurt Locker" in general, I don't think a portrait of a conflicted army guy set against bleak desert vistas is any more original than a modern (future?) retelling of the classic Pocahontas/Dancing With Wolves story. One had a gritty psychological bent, and the other was produced using methods that were as revolutionary as they were visually stunning.<br /><br />I think some of the elements that made "Avatar" pretty great are some of the same elements that can make a picture the Best Picture of the year.Pankinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08938956360114949029noreply@blogger.com